


An Extra Five Yards

by allmilhouse



Category: Fortune Cookie (1966)
Genre: Football, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:22:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28616523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allmilhouse/pseuds/allmilhouse
Summary: "Everybody tries for that extra five yards and sometimes, people get in our way"In Harry's case, the man in the way is himself
Relationships: Harry Hinkle/Luther "Boom Boom" Jackson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	An Extra Five Yards

There's a moment where he thinks he's pushing his luck. That this is it- after everything he’s done, he’ll truly be left in the dirt where he belongs. But he's been pushing it this whole time, and it led him here, lying flat on his back at the fifty yard line, waiting to see what Boom Boom would do next. 

He knew Boom Boom would come running, he'd seen it enough already. Always the look of concern on his face, the worry in his eyes. It pained him to see it, to see the visible distress he caused the man. His stomach turned every time he had to lie to the only person helping him, but the final straw was seeing the news report about Boom Boom suspended from the team. 

Because Harry was a fan before the hit, watching and filming him from the sidelines at every home game, and following on tv from home on away games. Boom Boom was one of the best players in the whole league, and getting the chance to learn just how great he was off the field as well was a real privilege. 

He was starstruck from the moment Boom Boom walked into his hospital room, the morning after the accident, with a bouquet of the nicest flowers he’d ever seen. He visited every day, sometimes twice, and helped him get settled back at home- not an easy task in a second floor apartment. Not to mention the way he could pick Harry up as if he weighed no more than a baby, carrying him softly in his arms, tenderly helping him bathe- well, at some point starstruck may have shifted to lovestruck. 

Harry couldn’t let him walk out of his life, let alone like this, wracked with guilt over nothing.

It was one thing to atone for the accident- and that was it, a total accident. No hard feelings on his side, they were both men doing their jobs, and Harry knew these things happened. Well, maybe not to just anyone, but specifically to him, the man with the worst luck in Ohio. He dwelled on that for a bit, stuck in that hospital bed for days with little to think of besides the scheme and his own pitiable life. But when Boom Boom came around, suddenly he didn’t feel like such a loser. 

No one else sure as hell gave a damn about him. Both Willie and Sandy saw him as an unable-to-be-walking paycheck, nothing more. Willie he could understand- his brother-in-law was a cheap grifter through-and-through. With Sandy it was more a sense of disappointment. Especially towards himself, for not being able to see it sooner. She barely lifted a finger while she was ostensibly there to care for him, apparently instead spending all her time dreaming up how to spend his insurance money. 

While everyone else around him saw dollar signs, Boom Boom saw a man in need. He cooked for him, he cleaned for him. Hell, he bought him a wheelchair and was personally trying to teach him to walk again. There was a reason Purkey knew how to get a literal rise out of him, because the only thing that could get him out of that damned wheelchair was defending Boom Boom’s honor. 

And that man had honor. He watched Harry walk across the field, with surprise and a little disgust, and didn’t even have the decency to punch him. Harry lied to his face and almost ruined his life, but Boom Boom was willing to hear him out. There was no way in hell he deserved this second chance, but now that he had it, he wasn't going to let it slip through his fingers again. 

So he reached out.

Boom Boom finally caught up to him, just like he knew he would. He crouched over Harry’s prone body, one arm holding his shoulder, voice dripping with concern as he asked the basic concussion questions. The worry gave way to a genuine grin when he figured out Harry was messing with him. 

That grin was one of the few things keeping him going these past couple of miserable weeks, and it was worth much more than two hundred thousand dollars to him to see it again. His arm mirrored Boom Boom’s, gripping his shoulder tightly, before slipping up into his hair and pulling him closer, bridging the small gap to complete the embrace. 

Boom Boom kissed him back, but looked surprised when they broke apart seconds later. 

“You kissed me!”

Harry shrugged, happy to have freedom of movement again. "It was just one of those things."

A small pause, and then Harry is rewarded with a slow blink, a deep chuckle, and the return of that radiant smile. "I'm glad you're alright, buddy."

Harry squeezed his shoulder again. "Me too. C'mon, let's play ball." He balked at Boom Boom helping him back to his feet. "Hey, I don't need your help anymore." 

Boom Boom just laughed. "Could've fooled me."

**Author's Note:**

> genuinely surprised there isn't more fic for this because good god the last ten minutes of the movie


End file.
